Harrogate-based phone company Mobile Tornado has been praised for its search and rescue efforts.

The firm donated licences to Search and Rescue Lincolnshire, which was able to rescue vulnerable people and their pets from their flooded homes during the recent Storm Babet.

Mobile Tornado supplies push-to-talk over cellular solutions to organisations that depend on fast, robust and reliable communications between individuals and large groups. These are deployed in more than 30 countries worldwide with mobile operators, government agencies and private enterprises.

Last month, charity volunteers worked with emergency services to move disabled residents from damaged housing to places of safety. Some 150 homes were affected with 40 disabled people needing rescue until recces confirmed their homes were safe again.

Paul Woodman, chief executive at Search and Rescue Lincolnshire, said: “We were able to use the company’s critical communications technologies in our response to Storm Babet, which were extremely useful.

“Mobile Tornado has been absolutely invaluable for emergency teams to stay in touch. We are able to see the location of our volunteers, communicate with them in an instant and record everything we do across a wide area.

“Previously, we relied on legacy radio systems which had a limited range and were restricted to line of sight. Mobile Tornado enables us to have county-wide communications without having to purchase very expensive radio equipment. For strategic, intergroup and long-distance communications, it is absolutely great.”

The charity is using Mobile Tornado’s push-to-talk over cellular application to enable individual and group communications and the company’s dispatch console, which serves as a command and control centre for the management of lone workers and remote workforces and includes SOS alerts and location tracking.

Search and Rescue Lincolnshire operates teams of trained leaders, managers, planners and technicians who are able to respond around the clock, all year round. The charity relies on donations and does not receive government funding.

Andrew McNamara, channel sales manager at Mobile Tornado, said: “We were delighted to be able to support the important work of Search and Rescue Lincolnshire. The charity aims to save lives and relieve suffering by providing a highly skilled and dedicated team of volunteers who are trained to search for and recover missing vulnerable persons. It performed a vital role helping to evacuate disabled people and their pets in the aftermath of Storm Babet.”